Diablo
Achiever
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2013
- Messages
- 1,784
First issues were almost funny. No doubt these were in a manual, but I found out by my usual ham fisted approach.
The drip tip pulls out. The top plate That the drip tip fits into) is reverse threaded.
The base with coil attached is a normal thread.
The middle section that is left attached to the glass is a reverse thread. I had fun working that out.
There are seals at top and bottom of the glass, once you have the glass out make sure you remove them and when you put it all back together later, refit them to the metal parts before re attaching the glass, trying with the seal still attached to the glass will likely damage them as they bunch up (I spotted that before destroying my seal as I attempted just that).
So, the easy bit then. Off to the garage, clamp the bung in a vice, get drift and hit it. No movement apart from the whole thing sliding in the vice. With about as much force as possible on the vice without destroying things, I tried again. No joy. So, to my mind, thats a non starter.
Plan B. Dremel and cutting disc. I have a few diamond cutting wheels instaed of the brittle cut off discs most use for dremel work, but either will do. You can clearly see where the chimney ends and the bung starts when looking at the top of the chimney. With the bung clamped in the vice near the edge of the vice, I cut vertically down the bung making sure I didnt damage the chimney. Maybe half a mm away from the chimney (if that). Once near the base I stopped and used a screwdriver to spread the slot and snap off the bit of bung I had cut free.
That where I thought I had messed up. I should add I had hoped the bung was hollow, its not, so a couple of other attempts had happened before settling on the vertical cut. It looked awful.
Anyway, once the bit of bung snapped off I could see what I was dealing with, I also realised that my vertical cut had cut into the normally wider part of the chimney at the base. It was here where I panicked and bought another tank on ebay btw.
Sorry, no pictures as at this point I was thinking I had blown it. I wasnt sure if that chimney cut was an option. Though I didnt think it was. So a quick clean, refit everything, refill, and test and all was well. It didnt take long til the 2ml was vaped away so back to the garage.
Another cut in the same manner (this time deliberately cutting to the same point knowing the extra loss of metal at the base added a tiny bit more liquid capacity with no detrimental effect. Again snapping off once near the base. Now we have just a slug of rectangular metal tpd rubbish to remove.
a dremel sanding tool next (the thin one that goes on a rubber mount on a shaft), I could see I had gone dangerously close to the chimney on one side than the other, that now worked in my favour. I sanded the metal away on the thicker side until i was able to see it was level with the chimney. You could see a line where the metal changed colour.
I now clamped one end of the rectangular slug of tpd bung in the vice, then with a pair of mole grips i gripped the other end and it bent like butter straight off the chimney. I had a small mark where I had Touched the chimney, but no real damage.
All cleaned and back together its now a decent little tank.
The only pic I have is the dead bung. Ignore the additional experimental cuts (in hindsight its obvious it was going to be solid). Its a shame manufacturers are following tpd in ways that are so hard to defeat by an end user. But at the same time, its good that they can be overcome with a little work. Its mine, I will not be selling it on, so no foul in my eyes.
So simply put, two vertical cuts, snap off the bits, a quick sand to one side then prise it off. If it doesnt bend off, take a little more off the other side with the sanding attachment.
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